APRIL 03, 2002Final Cut Pro 3New features make program even more valuable for editorsby Stephen Schleicher

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Effects and Filters Everywhere
The best new feature of Final Cut Pro 3 is the awesome color-correcting tools. In four clicks or less, an editor can make video that was once less than desirable very usable. It works very easily. First use the eyedropper tool to select an area of the video that is supposed to be pure black. Do the same thing with the white eyedropper and that is all there is too it for most video. The color correction filter also allows the user to adjust the mid-tones, enhance the color of the shot, and even limit specific regions or colors. Don’t like the green eyes of your actress? Use the filter and dial them to blue. By the way, the 3-way color correction filter is a real time filter. Very, very incredible, very, very easy to use. For those who are doing work for PBS, or other distributor who has very specific video requirements, Final Cut Pro 3 also includes several filters to make sure the video is broadcast safe.
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The color correction filter can take video that is slightly "off" and bring it to more acceptable levels.

Final Cut Pro 3 also comes with a large collection of 3rd party effects to create some very nice 3D DVE transitions, and even a scripting language to create your own. What’s more, 3rd party plug-ins for Adobe After Effects will also work in this latest release. To make sure you are not growing old waiting for non-real time effects to render, Final Cut Pro also includes QuickView to let you quickly preview a complex effect. Like the desktop only real time preview, this is a huge timesaver and one that you may find yourself using a great deal to speed up editing sessions.

The title/text tools in Final Cut Pro 3 have also been enhanced with plug-ins from Boris. The Calligraphy plug-in allows you to create very nice 3D titles, animated text, as well as scrolling and crawling graphics, that before required you to do A LOT of convoluted steps in Final Cut Pro 2. This freebie is awesome, and almost keeps you from having to go to an outside package.

As far as letting you know if the video is within acceptable limits, Final Cut Pro 3 has an overlay feature (that can be toggled on or off) that gives you a warning if your footage exceeds chroma or luma limits. I really like this, as it is an excellent way to indicate that you need to check your levels before outputting to tape.

When the indicator is green, you know you are okay.

Speaking of checking levels, Final Cut Pro 3 also includes four video scopes to monitor output. A waveform and vectorscope are standard in many NLE packages, but Apple has gone a step further by also including a histogram and RGB Parade monitors to really let you see how color and value are being distributed. With the color correction filters, and video scopes available in Final Cut Pro 3, not being able to deliver technically correct shots should be a thing of the past.

Four video scopes ensure that your levels and color distribution are accurate.